136th Year... and
still on the job!
Thursday March 24,
2005
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136th Year... and
still on the job!
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Thursday March 24,
2005
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The Defense Department on Tuesday reopened the funding spigot for initial site work on chemical weapons destruction plants here and at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, and for redesign work aimed at reducing the overall cost.
The latest move will allow team leader Bechtel to reissue its request for bids for as much as $30 million in work that was called off two months ago.
In addition, Gary Anderson of the local Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives office which oversees the program, said that the Defense Department also agreed to get moving on shifting defense funds to the federal highway program in order to start work on the Defense Access Road. That program will open up a northern gate at the Pueblo Chemical Depot and help the state and Pueblo County extend William White Boulevard to Colorado 47, opening a second access to the city's airport industrial park.
All work was suspended in January when the Army initiated a study of alternatives, including shipping the 2,600 tons of mustard agent shells out of Pueblo to another facility.
That study is still at least 10 days away from being completed, but the freeze on spending was lifted this week, nevertheless.
"I hope that it was due to our putting pressure on DOD and letting them know this was a critical issue," said Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who has led the fight in Congress to get keep the program moving, said, "This is the long-awaited initial step in getting these projects under way.
"I’m glad DOD has finally decided to release these funds. It is the first positive sign we’ve seen in a long time," Allard said. "Pueblo has been patient, but they’ve waited long enough. It is time to get these projects going."
Last month, Allard introduced legislation that would prevent the DOD from spending any more money on studying the feasibility of transporting the chemical munitions from one site to another site out of state to be destroyed. He also raised the question of the demilitarization projects as they related to U.S. Chemical Weapons Treaty obligations in Senate hearings with both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, as well as Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne.
Michael Parker, ACWA program manager, said that Bechtel also will move forward on redesigning the Pueblo and Blue Grass plants to stay within their original cost estimates - $1.5 billion for Pueblo.
The Pueblo project ran into trouble after the Defense Department saw its projected cost climb to $2.5 billion. That increase was due to the department's own order that the destruction program be accelerated because of national security concerns.
“Our project teams will continue to identify changes to the existing design concepts that will reduce the overall costs of both the Pueblo and the Blue Grass projects," Parker said. "As we do so, we’re committed to working closely with both communities to involve the public in looking at these options.
“The construction activities that we will be resuming as soon as possible in Pueblo will support any option that may be ultimately selected.”
Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said he was "cautiously optimistic" that work would finally get started.
"The directive to revise the design, project milestones and cost targets is not surprising since this is the course DOD has indicated it wants to pursue," he said. "I am pleased the bulk of fiscal year 2005 funds are being released. All in all, this seems like a positive step forward, but the devil remains in the details."